Confidence in the British economy and US investment is helping boost demand for initial public offerings in the UK this year, which will likely be the best in the past six for new stockmarket floats, a news report said.

The value of UK-issued initial public offerings has reached $US7.16 billion ($7.7 billion) this year – more than eight times the amount raised in the first nine months of last year, the Financial Times reported on its web site, citing a Dealogic report.

And this is before the government’s announced plans to float the Royal Mail which is expected to raise as much as £1.2 billion ($2 billion), the report said.

A survey of 650 high-growth companies by ECI, a private equity firm, found 41 per cent said they would consider selling shares, up from 9 per cent a year ago, the report said. More than half of those polled said they expected it to be “easy" or “very easy" to get growth finance in the next 12 months, up from 36 per cent in 2012.

The UK is benefiting from US funds hoping to rebuild exposure to European companies “as concerns over the eurozone crisis recede, and seek better bargains than those available on Wall Street," the report said. US investors now account for as much as 40 per cent of those investing in UK IPOs.